Connecting horizontal panels and vertical panels in prefabricated buildings

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a structure of connected horizontal panels and vertical panels in prefabricated buildings, wherein the horizontal panels bear on protrusions on the underlying vertical panel and in the masonry filled joint all the structural irons are bound together and welded.

United States Patent Gerola Inventor:

Assignee:

Luciano Gerola, Milan, Italy Construzionl Generali Fazsura-Cogelar v S.p.A., Milan, Italy Filed: Mar. 26, 1969 Appl. No.2 814,506

Related U.S. Appllcation Data Continuation of Ser. No. 635,445, May 2, 1967, abandoned.

Foreign Application Priority Data.

May 3, 1966 Italy ..10068/66 U.S. Cl. ..52/259, 52/432, 52/438, 52/583 Int. Cl. ..E04b 2/10, E041) 5/02 Field of Search ..52/431, 432, 434, 744, 259, 52/438, 583

5] Feb.29, 1972 Primary Examiner-Henry C. Sutherland Attorney-Gordon W. I-Iueschen and Hueschen and Kurlandsky [57] ABSTRACT The invention concerns a structure of connected horizontal panels and vertical panels in prefabricated buildings, wherein the horizontal panels bear on protrusions on the underlying vertical panel and in the masonry filled joint all the structural irons are bound together and welded.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Pltented Feb. 29, 1972 3,645,056

3 Sheets-Sheet l 5- .2 LBY M ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 29, 1972 3,645,056

3 Sheets-Sheet '2- 9 INVENTOR Luciano Gem/a ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 29, 1972 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 o A g 3 I 2 2 a I NVENTOR Luciano Gero/a ATTORNEY8 CONNECTING HORIZONTAL PANELS AND VERTICAL PANELS IN PREFABRICATED BUILDINGS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 635,445, filed May 2; 1967 and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thepresent invention relates to the connection of horizontal panels and vertical panels in prefabricated buildings, and a structure wherein the panels are joined and held statically prior-to being bonded together with a cementitious filler in the gap between the panels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The main object of the present invention is to join together all .the elements converging to the joint before casting, providing for an efficient connection between the structural iron protruding from each elementand for the introduction of a longitudinal reinforcement capable of absorbing the shearing stresses and of providing a provisional connectionadapted to supply sucha load bearing capacity as to use in practice the buildingparts, allowing to go on erecting the elements of the subsequent stories without need of pourings so that it is possibleto erect on one another several stories of theprefabricated building still postponing the binding pourings.

Bearing of horizontal panel or floor on the load bearing or vertical lower panel is arranged so as to validly support either load due to the weight of the floor itself and its overload or load transmitted to it through the projections on which the upper wall is hearing and due to said upper wall, also in the presence of several already erected stories.

Said projections are broken only at the structural irons of the floor joists where on the contrary there is arecess for making easier a greater overlap of the irons protruding from the floor, that is, a better welding of said irons between each other.

.Assuming that the lower vertical wall is already erected,

floors or the floor (in the case of a joint at the facade) are placed-in position, then the irons protruding from the floor are welded or otherwise connected, the longitudinal iron or irons for absorbing shearing stresses and for connecting all the elements are inserted and thereafter laying of the upper vertical wall is effected.

-When the three or four elements converging to the joint are in this manner provisionally put in position, it is possible to provide for welding or other efiicient connection of the irons protruding from the lower and upper parts of the converging walls.

'Then it is possible to go. on erecting the upper stories of the buildings, since its bracing is already supplied by the auxiliary erection elements. Pouring can therefore be effected either at once or subsequently if there are any difiiculties for adverse weather conditionsor other reasons.

The vertical panels or walls have along their upper edge, a longitudinal central recess so as to allow entrance of mortar or cement under the floor bearing elements, for warranting continuity of the final bearing.

The floor edge is shaped so as to have lowered projections, providing for supporting the upper vertical wall at .a level which is lower than the pouring plane, said projections also allowing eventual thickness variations for correcting the laying level, and are arranged so as to give astable bearing capable of withstanding the load of additional erected stories.

Recesses are also provided along thefloor edge, atthe reinforcement irons of the load bearing joists, saidrecesses being adapted to allow either a correct overlap of the. ironsfor their connection or=welding, or the introduction of mortar or'cement for general connection and stiffening.

Whenflooring is incorporated in the pouring of'the floor or horizontal panel, in order to avoid discontinuance in .said flooring, the plane floor surface extends up to the close proximity of the vertical wall and from this wall start both the recesses corresponding .to the load bearing joists and the lowered part of the projections on which the upper vertical wall is supported.

When flooring is of a type which is to be applied on the floor, both the recesses and the said lowered part will start at a distance from the edge of the vertical wall, which is sufficient to effect pouring.

The lower edge of the vertical wall converging to the joint, in the case of flooring incorporated in the floor, i.e., of recesses and lowered parts close to the lower edge of said upper vertical wall, hasa cavity at each recess of the floor, for allowing casting.

The height of this cavity .generally does not exceed the height of the socle applied to the wall, so that after filling it is concealed by said socle.

When the flooring is applied on the floor, the outline of the lower part of the wall obviously remains continuous and smooth, since said cavities are provided in the floor and not in the wall.

Considering again the case of the cavities made in the vertical walls, in order to obtain a greater spacing between each other along said vertical panel, said cavities are made alternately on the one or the other side of the panel.

Reinforcement of the vertical panels may be a conventional one, that is having irons lying on a single vertical central plane and protruding downwardly and upwardly from the lower and upper edges, respectively, of the panel, or may be a particular type, i.e.,with vertical straight elementsarranged alternately on two planesinside the panel, which are adjacent to the one or the other external surface or wall of the panel, so as to form a zigzag reinforcement, and in this case panel reinforcements terminate near the upper and lower edges of the panel. In view of this, continuity of reinforcement at the joint is given by projecting lengths of irons sufficiently overlapping at the joint for an efficient connection and these irons are firmly connected to the inner reinforcement of the vertical panel inside it, in one of the various known manners applicable to reinforced concrete. I

Since at the load bearing joists the supporting structure of the floor or horizontal panel is weakened by said recesses, efficiency of the bearing and continuity of the transmission of stresses is assured by the longitudinal edge irons of the floor.

All the foregoing features are applicable either in a joint between two vertical walls (a lower one and an upper one in respect of the joint) and two floors, or in a joint to which only onlyfloor is converging together with the two vertical walls, e.g., along the facades, and they are also applicable for both load bearing and unloaded panels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS panels and two horizontal panels;

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of the same joint zone of FIG. 1, with the cavity for pouring made along the lower edge of the 1 upper vertical panel;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but showing a joint of two vertical panels with one horizontal panel only;

FIG. 4is a view similar to FlG.2, but showing a cavity for pouring made in the floor rather than in the vertical wall; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but showing a joint of two vertical panels with one horizontal panel only.

DESCRIPTION OFTHE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference first to FIG. 1, reference numerals l and 2 indicate the two horizontal panels or floors, comprised of the 4, said joists 3 being defined by protruding irons 5 situated in an outer peripheral rib along an edge of panels 1 and 2, and which are connected, preferably by welding 6, to the irons 5 of the corresponding joists 3 of the other panel, at the joint zone located at the vertical plane defined by the vertical panels, the thickness of the lower one being indicated shadowed in the figure.

Floors 1 and 2 have projections 7 on which the upper wall will bear, and serving also for bearing in turn on the lower wall. These projections 7 are broken by recesses 8 in the zone of the irons 5 of joists 3, at which also the irons 9 are protruding from the lower wall. Said irons 9 will be connected and preferably welded to the corresponding irons 9 of the upper wall.

Referring now also to FIG. 2, the lower wall 10 has a longitudinal central lowered part of channel 11 allowing passage of mortar or cement under projections 7 of the floors l and 2, the efficient bearing of which is given also by the longitudinal edge irons 12 of said floors.

From FIG. 2 it is also possible to see the insertion into the joint of the longitudinal continuous iron 13, the lowered level of projections 7 in respect of the walking or flooring plane of the floors 1 and 2 for a perfect insertion into the joint of the upper panel 14, and the interruption of the irons 15 of the inner reinforcement of the vertical panels 10 and 14, which are not protruding outside said panels.

It will also be noted that cavities 16 for introducing mortar or cement into the joint are made along the wall of the upper panel 14 and arranged alternately along the two faces of the panel, so as to fill said joint with concrete 17.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 2, with the only difference being that openings 18 for introducing casting are made in the floors 1 and 2, rather than in the upper vertical panel 14, this being the case of flooring applied on rather than incorporated in the floor.

FIGS. 3 and 5 are also similar to each other, excepting for openings provided for concrete casting, which in FIG. 3, like in FIG. 2, are shown to be made along the vertical panel 14', while in FIG. 5, like in FIG. 4, are shown to be made in the floor 11.

Said FIGS. 3 and 5 also illustrate the joint of panels 10' and 14, being in this case facade panels, with one floor 1 only. The system by which joint is effected is exactly the same as that already described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, while for the outer part of the joint of the two vertical panels 10 and 14', reference may be made to the copending application Ser. No. 635,446 filed by the present applicant on even date hereof, having the title: Method of Connecting Prefabricated Panels at the Facades of a Prefabricated Building.

In these figures it is possible to see some details of the vertical panels 10' and 14', namely bands 19 and 20 of insulating materials, the chute 21 for collecting water and moisture, the flexible and compressible material 22 for the air and water seal, and the eventual outer facing 23.

Having thus described the invention, it is apparent that the joint according to the invention wholly solves the problem of connecting horizontal panels and vertical panels of a prefabricated building, giving the maximum static safety and allowing also stability of the structure even before effecting casting, without need of any falsework.

It is clear that several modifications, variants, additions, replacements or removals of parts may be made to the elements of the system hereinbefore disclosed, without departing, however, from the spirit and scope of the invention or from the appended claims.

Iclaim:

l. A building structure comprising in combination at least three prefabricated panels including a vertical panel, a horizontal panel having a plurality of parallel floor joists having reinforcing structural metal rods positioned through said joists and extending beyond the ends thereof and having substantially continuous bearing projections at an edge thereof bearin on the upper edge of said vertical panel, and a second vertic on the bearing pro ecpanel having its edge beanng tions of said horizontal panel, said bearing projections being substantially perpendicular to said joists and being substantially continuous but having recesses of limited length provided therein positioned at the ends of said joists to permit access to said rod ends, each of said vertical panels having vertically positioned structural metal rods affixed therein and extending therefrom, the rods of said first and second vertical panels being affixed to each other within said recesses at said joists thereby maintaining said panels in position.

2. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein the reinforcement rods of said floor joists are connected to the reinforcement rods of said vertical panels.

3. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein the upper edge of said lower vertical panel is provided with a longitudinal groove extending along the center thereof and adapted to have concrete poured therein to provide locking engagement with another panel.

4. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein said bearing projections are positioned at the bottom portion of said horizontal panels.

5. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein said horizontal panels are provided with an additional recess for introducing concrete filling material into the recesses of said horizontal panel projections.

6. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein said vertical panels are provided with an additional recess for introducing concrete filling material into the recesses of said horizontal panel projections. 

1. A building structure comprising in combination at least three prefabricated panels including a vertical panel, a horizontal panel having a plurality of parallel floor joists having reinforcing structural metal rods positioned through said joists and extending beyond the ends thereof and having substantially continuous bearing projections at an edge thereof bearing on the upper edge of said vertical panel, and a second vertical panel having its edge bearing on the bearing projections of said horizontal panel, said bearing projections being substantially perpendicular to said joists and being substantially continuous but having recesses of limited length provided therein positioned at the ends of said joists to permit access to said rod ends, each of said vertical panels having vertically positioned structural metal rods affixed therein and extending therefrom, the rods of said first and second vertical panels being affixed to each other within said recesses at said joists thereby maintaining said panels in position.
 2. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein the reinforcement rods of said floor joists are connected to the reinforcement rods of said vertical panels.
 3. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein the upper edge of said lower vertical panel is provided with a longitudinal groove extending along the center thereof and adapted to have concrete poured therein to provide locking engagement with another panel.
 4. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein said bearing projections are positioned at the bottom portion of said horizontal panels.
 5. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein said horizontal panels are provided with an additional recess for introducing concrete filling material into the recesses of said horizontal panel projections.
 6. A building structure according to claim 1 wherein said vertical panels are provided with an additional recess for introducing concrete filling material into the recesses of said horizontal panel projections. 